Ronaldo double sends United second

Thursday 4 January 2007 00:12 BST

Cristiano Ronaldo emphasised his claims to be the best player on the planet with a double for Manchester United in a 2-0 win against against Fulham.

It was the 11th time Ronaldo has scored twice in a game for the Red Devils - but his wait for a hat-trick goes on after referee Rob Styles booked the Portugal winger for diving rather than awarding what seemed a certain penalty when he fell over Antti Niemi's body as he pursued a Ryan Giggs' through ball.

Nevertheless, Ronaldo's efforts were enough to see United reclaim second spot in the Barclays Premier League with their seventh straight home win - three points adrift of Arsenal, who also have a game in hand.

Having finished runner-up to Kaka in the voting for the prestigious Ballon D'Or this week, Ronaldo is expected to occupy the same position when FIFA host their world player of the year awards in Zurich later this month.

Having netted a phenomenal 23 goals last season, the former Sporting Lisbon star is already up to 13 this term and few would have been better than his opening salvo here.

When Steven Davis inexplicably nodded what should have been a clearing header straight back into his own penalty area, Nemanja Vidic climbed high enough to nod the ball into Ronaldo's path. From 10 yards, the winger let fly with a thunderbolt volley Niemi had no chance at all of keeping out.

At times, United were so much in command it was too easy and as a consequence, passes went astray, offering Fulham hope of avoiding what should have been inevitable defeat.

Danny Murphy, twice the scorer of match-winners on this ground for Liverpool, forced Edwin van der Sar into a low save and also curled a 20-yard shot just wide. It was Shefki Kuqi who had the best chance though, arriving unmarked to meet Simon Davies' cross, yet failing to keep his header on target.

Premier League defenders know all about Ronaldo's dancing feet but his heading ability was recently likened to that of 'King' Denis Law by Sir Alex Ferguson, whose words were proved unerringly accurate as he rose to meet John O'Shea's cross and glance it into the bottom corner.

Rooney missed a golden chance and referee Rob Styles booked Ronaldo for diving as he tumbled over Niemi, who had come sliding out to block after the winger had been sent through by Louis Saha. Whilst it was true no contact had been made, it was only because Ronaldo had taken evasive action.